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Sunday, August 21, 2011

The stealer of butter and hearts!

The stealer of butter (navanIta-chauram नवनीत-चौरम्) and hearts (chitta-chauram चित्त-चौरम्) ! The terrible two's! Imagine Yashoda's daily irritation - running around this kid who gets in trouble over eating soil, stealing butter, killing demons, and having universe in his mouth! He tests her patience many a times!

He is called the stealer of butter, because butter is the result of all our effort - milking the cow, boiling the milk, making yogurt, churning it, and then from 1 kg of milk you get 50 grams of butter! And that too he steals away! Drat! What is this nonsense? All my effort wasted? I don't get the result? What he is doing is taking your attachment to the the results of your deeds. If you do selflessly, the result will not impact you negatively by causing undue attachment. You can have the result but not the attachment.

What seems like a childhood prank of stealing butter is a big lesson in non-attachment. It is not that you don't a right on the result, you certainly do, but you have no control over getting the result and being affected by it. He tries to free you from the attachment.

How to meet the Supreme Divine?
Meet a little child. Play with him/her. Give it your full attention even for a little while.
Have patience with others, specially the children and elders.
Love and care for others as you love and care for yourself.
Think beyond yourself.
Do your assigned/accepted duty faithfully and to the best of your ability.
Remember all this is transient and you will one day leave all this here, sooner or later.
So, think beyond yourself.

Wondrous are the leelA's of the rain-bearing-dark-cloud-colored (ghanashyAma घनश्याम ), tied-by-the-rope (damodara दामोदर ), killer of kaMsa, madhu (madhusUdana मधुसूदन ), and charioteer of arjuna (parthasArathi पार्थसारथि) , protector of the cows and the earth (gopAla गोपाल), universe is whose form (विश्वरूप).